16 Actors Who Bore Us By Always Playing The Same Character

Sometimes you turn on the TV and see a movie airing that makes you go, “Wait, is this the movie where Michael Cera plays that awkward guy, or is it the other one where he plays that awkward guy?” The same kind of question applies to a lot of actors who continuously get typecast as one character or another, over and over again to the end of time. Sure, somewhere in there a period actress with play a modern woman or a constant good guy will try his hand at villainy. But then they just go back to what they’re known for, forever and ever. Here are sixteen prime examples of that. On the one hand, it’s nice that we know what we’re getting ourselves into when we go to their movies. On the other hand, UGH PLAY A DIFFERENT CHARACTER ALREADY.

Are you adapting a classic piece of literature or telling the story of a spunky woman who rebels against corsets? Odds are you’re going to consider Keira Knightley. She’s a time traveling powerhouse. Sure, she’s played a few modern roles like in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, but she keeps jumping at the chance to wear a floor-length dress.

It didn’t start out this way. Sure, Helena was known for period pieces like Howard’s End and A Room With A View, but she didn’t look like she reached into her closet, chose ten items at random and piled them on before back-combing her hair and applying lipstick in the dark. Maybe it’s the fact that she’s married to Tim Burton and has become Johnny Depp’s go-to co-star.

Examples:Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Pirates of the Caribbean, Sweeney Todd, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Dark Shadows … you get the idea

You might think I’m crazy for putting Johnny Depp in here because he plays such a wide range of characters. You might say he’s the most versatile actor around. But to that I say that all of his supposedly diverse characters have a very important connecting thread — they’re really weird. Even when he’s not piling on the crazy makeup and doing a silly voice, he just looks like Johnny Depp, which is in itself pretty weird.

Morgan Freeman is the wisest guy around. He even played the ultimate wise guy, God himself. When he’s not being the president/stand-in president, he’s giving advice to the film’s hero in that classic voice of his. But who gives Morgan Freeman advice, huh? You just go ahead and think about that one.

Whether he’s attending a wedding he wasn’t invited to or only getting Jennifer Aniston three lemons when she wanted twelve, Vince Vaughn is the ultimate smug slacker. It’s weird because in real life I tend to like him, but in movies he’s just such a douche.

Examples:Ghost, Sister Act, Made in America, every TV show she guest-stars on

There have of course been exceptions, like in The Color Purple, but when you look at a lot of her film roles and most of her TV gigs, she pretty much just plays Whoopi Goldberg. The very fact that she always has those dreadlocks is the first sign.

There’s a reason Woody Allen has inspired the phrase “Woody Allen type” for when you’re trying to describe a sarcastic, neurotic guy. He casts himself in a lot of his movies, and he pretty much plays the same guy at different ages and with different names and different levels of neurosis. But we keep watching.

Examples:Something’s Gotta Give, The Family Stone, Because I Said So, Smother, The Big Wedding

If Because I Said So is on TV, I have to change the channel. How can anyone be that overbearing? It’s not always quite so bad with her, but she still seems to be playing Annie Hall all grown up with adult kids.

He was quite literally a man child in Billy Madison, and ever since he’s just played various forms of the immature, annoying guy. Unless he’s playing his own twin sister, in which case I’d rather he just stick to the man child thing. Shudder.

Seriously. How in the world did Rachel McAdams get cast in TWO movies about falling in love with a guy who time travels? Talk about being very specifically typecast. Even though About Time looks kind of cute, I’m very worried this will be a rule of three thing and Rachel will get cast as the next Doctor Who companion.

Well excusez-vous! Helena Bonham Carter played Charlie’s mother in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and to anyone that has actually viewed the film with their eyes saw she played the character as a sweet, motherly figure. Not as an eccentric. I spit at you.